Views on American Culture

Views on American Culture

Understanding and views on American Culture



In order to understand American culture, one must have knowledge of the history of our country. America is traditionally a country of immigrants. Very few people today have ancestors who were natives in this land. Even our founding fathers fled to America…many because of religious persecution, and a few who were just looking to start a new life on the exciting untouched frontier. During the hundreds of years to come, America was seen as a land of opportunity, and people from all over the world moved there; some in large groups, and some all by themselves. This history of immigration to America has greatly shaped our culture. Instead of having one basic set of customs and beliefs, our country has so many that there are no dominant viewpoints. We are like a melting pot in some ways, and a tossed salad in other ways. Each immigrant brings some of his homeland's culture with him, and some parts of his culture will melt with others, and some will stay intact (like all of the different pieces of a salad). I think this is why the French and English responses to individualism were different. In America an individualist is not afraid to have his own culture, and not mold himself to Pop culture which is a big factor on the lives of young Americans.


Popular American culture is what’s going on now. It is the way we do things in America now. It is the way we make decisions in life. Based upon our population, popular American culture surrounds itself around food, music, technology, schools, books, people, places, and things to do. The actual definition for popular culture is the elements of everyday life. When things happen in the world, people change. The media puts information out there for America to view and have options. People tend to follow the trends, the fads, the way that everyone else is leading the world to be. The inventory list that was created to form this paper started with how I viewed...

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